Their conversation was interrupted by a loud clap of thunder. The lights in the apartment flickered off for a moment, but they returned just as soon.

About two minutes later, there was a quick rap on Marinette and Alya's front door. "I've answered the door so many times today," Marinette informed Alya. "Will you please get it this time?"

Alya rolled her eyes and stood from her spot, going to answer the door. "Hey, Kagami," she greeted, seeing the fencer on the other side of the door.

"Hello, Alya." She looked at the couch and greeted, "Marinette." Alya motioned for her to enter the apartment and Kagami followed the silent instruction. "I was wondering if you have any candles that I can have, or borrow at least. My girlfriend is supposed to come over tonight, now that I'm back, but the power in my apartment is out."

"Oh," Marinette began excitedly, "I have plenty. Let me grab some for you." She stood from the couch, drawing Kagami's attention to her and the boys still seated on the couch. Marinette rushed past her back to her bedroom to get an assortment of tea candles, pillar candles, and a small candelabra containing 3 stick candles.

"Adrien," Kagami greeted, surprised. "It's been a while."

"Certainly since before you got a girlfriend," he confirmed. He stood up to approach her and they gave one another a friendly, albeit slightly stilted hug. "Who's the lucky lady?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," she replied, trying for a playful comment. "You did introduce the two of us, after all."

"Oh, Kagami," Marinette said when she returned, "do you and your girlfriend want to hang out down here with us? Our lights are still working and I know Alya and I have been dying to meet her. We were planning to just play games and talk for most of the day."

"I will see if she is agreeable to your suggestion when she arrives," Kagami said. Marinette grabbed a small bag to put all the candles in so Kagami could take them more easily. "If she is, I can text Adrien before we come downstairs." She looked to Adrien to confirm that his number hadn't changed.

"Sounds good," he confirmed, but he was trying to figure out who he had introduced Kagami to when they were younger. Maybe it was one of the other boys from their fencing team? But no, they've been saying girlfriend the whole time. Adrien didn't know many girls, maybe a few models? He gave up guessing for the time being.

"Thank you," Kagami added with a small bow with the bag of candles sitting on her arm. She left the apartment and Alya closed the door behind her.

"I hope she comes back," Alya said, "I bet she'd be able to tell me all about her training and I could probably get an interview with her."

"Als, you literally have 3 superheroes, a supermodel, and one of the hottest up and coming DJs standing in your apartment right now. If Kagami comes back, we're going to focus on being her friends, not furthering your career." Marinette giggled at her own comment.

"Plus, you have MDC here, if you really need an interview to break onto the scene." Nino had come over and gave Marinette a small jab in her side. "Did you know she just broke Gabriel Agreste's record for more celebrity tweets about her designs in a 6 month period?"

Adrien paused for a moment. He'd been attending business meetings at Gabriel for the last few months and during their quarterly meetings, he'd heard the initials 'MDC' thrown around the boardroom before. He knew they were a designer and that they'd been hiding who they are in the shadows, but they started with a pair of sunglasses and an album cover for Jagged Stone.

'Fuck,' he groaned mentally, 'did Nino just imply that Marinette is also MDC.' He looked at Marinette joking with Alya and Nino again. 'No, he didn't. He didn't just imply that she's the MDC, he just said she is.'

Alya noticed that Adrien had zoned out of the conversation. "Are you okay there, M. Model," she asked him. He put a model smile on his face to try to take attention back off of him.

"Of course I am," he responded, "I'm doing great. I was just thinking about my schedule for this week for that interview you mentioned." Marinette could immediately tell he was lying, but she didn't know why. What would he possibly be trying to protect by lying to her after all of their secrets were just revealed. She considered after a moment that he wasn't lying for her, but for Alya and Nino.

"I think Adrien and I need to make sure we have our backstory squared away," Marinette told her friends, "if Kagami and her girlfriend come by, we don't want to be caught off guard, right?"

After years of knowing her best friend was Ladybug, Alya knew her tells and Marinette needed to talk to Adrien in private about something significant. "Do you want us out of here or are you going to talk in your room," Alya asked. Marinette considered for a moment.

"We'll go," she landed on. She looped her arm through his and half dragged him into her bedroom which would have been a dream come true for him before he realized how out of his league she is. They entered her room and he was amazed. It was the definition of organized chaos.

Her fabric was out on the surfaces, but it was sorted perfectly by material then by color. She had a few pencil jars that were filled with fabric pencils, graphite, and colored pencils in any hue she'd likely need for designing. All of her clothes were thrown into one laundry basket, opposed to the 3 he'd been forced to use in his father's house. There was a pair of pajamas on her bed, presumably from when she was rushing to get ready that morning.

"So," she began quietly, "what's up, minou? The truth. I can tell when you lie. It's a perk from the fact that I've been your partner for years."

"You're really cool," he responded and she successfully stopped herself from giggling at his declaration. "I knew that Ladybug was really cool, I mean she's a superhero. She doesn't really have the ability to not be cool, but I didn't realize just how cool Marinette would be too." He breathed out a long exhale.

"I just kind of feel lame in comparison. I didn't realize it was possible for your superhero identity to be the lamer part of who you are and it's taking some getting used to." He rubbed the back of his neck with one of his hands as a bright blush developed on his face.

She sat down on the edge of her bed and pointed to offer him a seat on her desk chair or the chance to sit next to her on the bed. He opted to sit on her bed and pressed himself slightly against her, just like they'd become used to as Chat Noir and Ladybug.

"It's an adjustment for me, too," she told him quietly. She started scratching small circles on his back. "I mean, you're a superhero and a supermodel. That's not something I deal with on an everyday basis. Plus, getting used to you acting professionally. That's not something I think I'll get used to for at least a while."

She bumped her shoulder into his and placed a hand on his cheek to lift his face to meet hers. "You're my partner, Chaton," she continued, "whoever you are is who I want to get to know. If you think I should get used to the Adrien from this morning who was just holding onto me while he was doing important businessy things, I will." Her speaking was momentarily stopped when he let out a breathy chuckle.

"If you want me to just be used to the Adrien who will goof around on rooftops in the middle of the night, I'll do that too. If you want us to find a compromise between the two, we can spend the rest of our partnership and friendship doing that because I, for one, don't plan on letting you go for a long, long time."

"Can I give you a hug," he asked quietly.

"Always, Chaton," she responded in a whisper. He wrapped his arms around her and they spent a short while in their embrace. "If you need to talk to me, you can just say so. I noticed you've been zoning out a bit today and I'm happy to take some time to talk things through with you whenever you need."

"Thank you, Bug," he said. "While we're here, should we come up with a backstory like we said we were going to?" He chuckled lightly.

"I think that before we do that, we should come up with a few new nicknames," she told him, "I've always kind of enjoyed them, but 'Bugaboo,' and 'Chaton' are not what I'd call casual." She smiled brightly at him. "My lady could be okay, but I don't know if you want to keep using that one."

"If you're not comfortable with those, I can come up with something else." He met her eyes and after a moment added, "bluebell."

"Sounds like a great nickname to me, buttercup." She shot him a wink that hit him straight through his heart. He just fell harder for this girl and he didn't know what to do about it. She said he could talk to her, but he figured this conversation would just make things awkward and seemed like at least a 'day 2 of knowing each other' conversation.

"How do you feel about casual affection," she asked bluntly. Her face heated in a blush and she continued speaking, "you might have noticed earlier that I'm kind of a hugger and honestly, if I have the chance to, I will cling to someone for as long as I can. If that's something you're not comfortable with, I want to know before I make things… weird."

"It's fine with me," he said. He thought for a second before amending, "from you. It's fine for me if I get casual affection from you. I have it on good authority that you're not going to go out of your way to make me uncomfortable."

"Your source is great," she confirmed, "if I ever overstep, please tell me?"

"I will," he informed her. She reacted by reaching out and taking his hand in hers.

"This okay," she asked in clarification. She gave his hand a little squeeze, as though he weren't already hyper aware of her hand and how it felt in his.

"It's great," he assured. "Thanks, bluebell." Kwamis, the nickname made him feel like he was so much more distant from her than he wanted to be. Would it be awkward to suggest a different nickname this soon after the first one? Should he just start dropping nicknames in conversation until he finds one that sticks? Yeah, that's what he was going to do, just keep trying new nicknames.